Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Green Beer, Not Just For St. Patty's Day

if there's an organic label, it's certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which means there are strict regulations for farming the barely and hops

Support green beer companies

some breweries are now solar powered and are moving towards sustainability, like Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada and Anderson Brewery in Chico

Drink beer from draught instead of from bottles

hundreds of beers are held in a keg, so go for the keg and save those bottles and cans

Recycle your bottles, cans, and other packaging

aluminum cans are usually back on the shelf within 60 days and with the bottles they will save 1,300 lbs of sand

Reuse the bottle caps

they are usually thrown aside in the recycling process, so make them have a better use, like a decorative feature or a belt or magnets

Try vegan beers

some beers have gelatin or isinglass (fish bladder!) to clarify beers without having to put them in the filtration process, which potentially lessens the flavor

Drink local, and use a growler

save a little gas and go downtown and save a little more by cutting emissions from shipping imported beers

Opt for paper free bottles

look for the ones with the label printed on the bottle. (These bottles look cooler anyway.)

Don't use disposable cups when serving beer

go with reusable instead; the disposable end up in the landfill!

Avoid Big Beer

like Anheuser Busch or Coors, they have mass demand to supply

Here are some interesting numbers:

- 85% of alcohol consumed in the U.S. by the gallon is beer
- 2 organic beers are made by Anheuser Busch (biggest beer company in U.S.)
- 95% of ingredients that are needed to earn beer an organic certification are certified by USDA
- U.S. is ranked 13 in annual per capita consumption in the world (Czech Republic is #1, Ireland #2, and Finland bet us at #9)
- $25,000,000 organic beer sales in U.S. in 2007
- 4 solar powered breweries in U.S.